Moviegoers hail Moore's Palin

Did D.C.’s political and media elite find Hollywood’s portrayal of “ Game Change” and Sarah Palin fascinating? You betcha.

HBO’s “Game Change” had its star-studded — for Washington, at least — premiere Thursday night in the Newseum with some of the town’s political and media VIPs in attendance alongside star Julianne Moore and producer Tom Hanks.

Several of Blitzer’s fellow D.C. moviegoers echoed his sentiment that Moore perfectly captured Palin, including NBC News’s Luke Russert. Russert, who called the film “tremendously well done,” had high praise for Moore’s performance.

“To be honest with you, I was floored by how well the portrayal was,” he said. “Again, the popular cliché is you forget who you’re watching and you think it’s the real person. And, honestly, it’s one of the best portrayals of a living person I’ve ever seen. It’s up there to me with Joaquin Phoenix doing Johnny Cash. If you remember that movie, when he sings the song it’s literally the same voice, pitch and everything else. So it was pretty impressive.”

Washington Post editorial page writer and frequent “Morning Joe” contributor Jonathan Capehart said he thought Moore was “spectacular” as Palin — but much to his surprise, another figure stole the show.